Number of the day

$789.5 million

That's how much Steve Cohenand the managers of SAC Capitalearned in the first 10 months of 2012, making it the world's most profitable hedge fund for the period. While SAC's investment performance tied for 86th place with a 10 percent return, according to a survey by Bloomberg Markets magazine, the fund earned the most money because Cohen charges some of the highest fees on Wall Street.

Hear here

"It looks pretty bleak, long term."

Michael Souers, an analyst at Standard & Poor's, on declining sales at Barnes & Noble's Nook tablet division. Revenue at the unit - which includes devices, accessories and electronic books - fell 13 percent to $311 million. Overall sales from stores and the website sank 11 percent to $1.2 billion. "It's a challenging marketplace for them to compete with the likes of Apple and Amazon," Souers says.

Heads up

How to Build a Biotech Company, a workshop for entrepreneurs, runs Monday at the Marines' Memorial Club & Hotel in San Francisco. The meeting focuses on developing intellectual property, raising money, structuring and staffing a company, and preparing an exit strategy. Speakers include Otis Littlefield, partner at Morrison & Foerster; Stephanie Marrus, director of the UCSF Entrepreneurship Center; and CEOs of Orbis Biosciences, Omniox, Carmot Therapeutics and Precision NanoSystems.